Premier men’s magazine GQ has its sights set on Turkey. The magazine has been catering to its male readership for over five decades. Award-winning writing, stunning photographs and a keen sense of changing trends have made GQ one of the leading lights in the world of men’s magazines. In March next year, GQ will make its Turkey debut. But the magazine does not seem content with just that. According to reports, the magazine’s publisher Conde Nast is planning a special GQ Bar (like the one in Moscow, Russia) to coincide with the magazine launch. The Turkish GQ Bar will be located in picturesque Istanbul. The bar, which is set to open in 2012, will be yet another addition to Conde Nast’s growing portfolio of restaurants. The premier publisher launched its restaurants division last year to extend the company’s reach into the business of fine dining.
As of now, details about the upcoming GQ Bar are fairly hush-hush. Even the location is not known. Many have taken educated guesses about the possible site of the new bar. Some feel that the fashionable streets of Sisli is the best suited to a GQ Bar. Others feel that big malls like Istinye Park could be the chosen spot. Conde Nast has teamed up with Turkish holding company Dogus Group to develop the GQ Bar in Istanbul.
Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Conde Nast International, said in a recent interview that the expansion into restaurants is a “natural” progression. He said that restaurants provide an opportunity where readers can experience magazine’s like GQ and Vogue in a new way.
